A Course in Miracles
(ACIM)

All you need is love....love is
all you need. --the Beatles

A Course in Miracles [ACIM] is the name of a book, allegedly
dictated by
Jesus to
Helen Schucman
(1909-1981), a research psychologist. ACIM is Christianity improved: Jesus
wants less suffering, sacrifice, separation, and sacrament. He also wants
more love and forgiveness.

ACIM is a minor industry. To find out what Jesus really had in mind when
he came to save the world, you can buy ACIM or one of a dozen similar books
from the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP).*
About 1.5 million copies of ACIM were sold worldwide between 1976 and
2002. FIP also sells audio and videotapes, and conducts workshops, seminars,
and discussion groups.* Its
sister organization,
The Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM),
has an academy where you can get the
Holy Spirit to help you understand the real message of Jesus. You may then
return to your everyday life situation with a deeper appreciation for the
difference between appearance and reality, illusion and truth. The academy
is known as "The Institute for Teaching Inner Peace Through A Course in
Miracles" (ITIP).

Why should anyone believe that the words of Helen Schucman are the words
of Jesus? She was a clinical psychologist by training (she received a Ph.D.
in 1957 from New York University). She claims that from 1965-1972 an inner
voice dictated to her the three books that make up ACIM. She was assisted by
a colleague,
William Thetford
(1923-1988). In 1972, another psychologist and his wife,
Kenneth and
Gloria Wapnick, assisted Schucman with her work. The Wapnicks are the ones
who started FACIM.

Why is it called A Course in Miracles? According to Schucman, the
voice said to her: “This is a course in miracles, please take notes.”1

ACIM got a big boost when Marianne
Williamson,2
one of America's most popular New Age spirituality writers, began promoting
her version of it in the 1990s. The teachings of ACIM are not new. They have
been culled from various sources, east and west. That does not make them
false or worthless. But to claim that they were dictated by someone who has
been dead for 2,000 years is a bit much to swallow. Did she really hear
voices or didn’t she want to take responsibility for what she
thought?3

Essentially, in ACIM, the term "miracle" refers
to that change of mind that makes it possible for the Love of [Abraham's god] to be
somehow expressed in the world. This expression of love is referred to as
forgiveness in the Course and it is reasonably accurate to say that the
miracle spoken of in the Course (and indicated in its title) is forgiveness.

2Williamson might be called Oprah's patron
saint. She's all about love and healing, yin and yang, being wounded, and
using love and prayer to heal all wounds. A Return to Love: Reflections
on the Principles of A Course In Miracles (1992) was number one on the
Publishers Weekly non-fiction best-sellers list for eleven weeks. Williamson
promoted her book and ACIM when she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, an
episode that received more pro viewer mail than any other show for 1992. She
also plugged the book and the course when she was interviewed by Barbara
Walters on the ABC television news show 20/20.

3If the former, I have nothing to add. If
the latter, however, I must say that I am much more sympathetic to the
approach of someone like Leo
Buscaglia (1924-1998), another psychologist who taught love and
forgiveness. He took responsibility for what he claimed and seemed to
say: This is what I've learned; take it or leave it.